PV Sindhu bows out of China Open with a quarter-final loss

PV Sindhu went down rather tamely to World No.19 Gao Fangjie, going down 21-11, 21-10 in the quarter-finals of the China Open Super Series Premier.

Sindhu seemed completely off-colour during her 38-minute duel with the 19-year-old Fangjie, who upstaged her fancied World No. 2 rival 21-11 21-10 in a lop-sided contest. Sindhu’s loss drew curtains on India’s campaign at the China Open, following the ouster of Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.

In the first game, Sindhu opened up a 2-0 lead before Fangjie showed her fighting skills and turned the tables at 4 -3. Though Sindhu played a few smart drops and smashes to gather points, Fangjie entered the break with a 11-9 lead.

After the mid-game interval, the Chinese teen just raced away, gathering 10 of the next 12 points to pocket the opening game.

The second game too was a one-way traffic as Sindhu found it hard to read Fangjie’s deceptive strokes. The Indian’s movements were also not as smooth and that resulted in Fangjie jumping to a 11-6 lead at the interval.

Sindhu also committed too many unforced errors and continued to lag behind after the break, even as the Chinese moved to a massive 20-9 match point. The Indian saved one but Fangjie sealed it in the next opportunity.

Sindhu is scheduled to play at the Hong Kong Open next week. She had reached the finals in the last edition and has a lot of points to defend.